Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course
Higher education institutions have played a central role in building sustainability awareness. However, current models only show an effect on students’ knowledge about sustainable development, with a large gap in transformative solutions that shift from understanding problems towards solutions. This...
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| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Geomatics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/5/2/20 |
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| author | Forrest Hisey Valerie Lin Tingting Zhu |
| author_facet | Forrest Hisey Valerie Lin Tingting Zhu |
| author_sort | Forrest Hisey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Higher education institutions have played a central role in building sustainability awareness. However, current models only show an effect on students’ knowledge about sustainable development, with a large gap in transformative solutions that shift from understanding problems towards solutions. This case study explores a new model that integrates sustainability reflections in a Geographic Information Science (GIS) Capstone Project course. Through collaborations with external partners and reflections on sustainability modules, students analyzed complex problems and developed sustainability competencies. The assessment tool adopted in this study combines reflective writing, scenario testing, performance observation, and self-assessment. Based on the set of key competencies in sustainability, half of the students developed systems-thinking and strategies-thinking, while a quarter of the students developed futures-thinking and values-thinking. Their development of sustainability competencies went beyond simply acquiring knowledge, also critically evaluating different perspectives and implementing or integrating the concepts when addressing the problems. Geospatial information tackles three key aspects of sustainability, which are relational, distributional, and directional, making it ideal in analyzing sustainability issues and providing insights for informed decisions. This study fills another important gap of integrating sustainability competency development in GIS education. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-30b82d76c3854ecb8ced461bacaa96c3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-7418 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geomatics |
| spelling | doaj-art-30b82d76c3854ecb8ced461bacaa96c32025-08-20T03:27:17ZengMDPI AGGeomatics2673-74182025-05-01522010.3390/geomatics5020020Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project CourseForrest Hisey0Valerie Lin1Tingting Zhu2Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, CanadaInstitute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, CanadaDepartment of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, CanadaHigher education institutions have played a central role in building sustainability awareness. However, current models only show an effect on students’ knowledge about sustainable development, with a large gap in transformative solutions that shift from understanding problems towards solutions. This case study explores a new model that integrates sustainability reflections in a Geographic Information Science (GIS) Capstone Project course. Through collaborations with external partners and reflections on sustainability modules, students analyzed complex problems and developed sustainability competencies. The assessment tool adopted in this study combines reflective writing, scenario testing, performance observation, and self-assessment. Based on the set of key competencies in sustainability, half of the students developed systems-thinking and strategies-thinking, while a quarter of the students developed futures-thinking and values-thinking. Their development of sustainability competencies went beyond simply acquiring knowledge, also critically evaluating different perspectives and implementing or integrating the concepts when addressing the problems. Geospatial information tackles three key aspects of sustainability, which are relational, distributional, and directional, making it ideal in analyzing sustainability issues and providing insights for informed decisions. This study fills another important gap of integrating sustainability competency development in GIS education.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/5/2/20integrated sustainability educationreflective assignmentsgeographic information sciencecombined assessment tool |
| spellingShingle | Forrest Hisey Valerie Lin Tingting Zhu Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course Geomatics integrated sustainability education reflective assignments geographic information science combined assessment tool |
| title | Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course |
| title_full | Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course |
| title_fullStr | Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course |
| title_short | Integrating Sustainability Reflection in a Geographic Information Science Capstone Project Course |
| title_sort | integrating sustainability reflection in a geographic information science capstone project course |
| topic | integrated sustainability education reflective assignments geographic information science combined assessment tool |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/5/2/20 |
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